A mobile communications device contains at least two microphones. One microphone is located away from the handset receiver and serves to pick up voice of a near end user of the device for transmission to the other party during a call. Another microphone is located near the handset receiver and serves to pick up acoustic output of the handset receiver (a far end signal). A signal processor measures the frequency response of the receiver. The signal processor performs spectral analysis of the receiver frequency response to determine whether or not the device is being held at the ear of the user. On that basis, the device automatically changes its operating mode, e.g., turns on or off a touch sensitive display screen during the call. Other embodiments are also described.
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1. An apparatus comprising: a mobile communications device housing having integrated therein: a downlink channel processor to receive an incoming signal from a far end user; a speakerphone speaker coupled to an output of the downlink channel processor to receive the incoming signal from the far end user and to output a speakerphone acoustic signal; a first microphone to pick up voice of a near end user and to output a voice signal of the near end user; an uplink channel processor to send the voice signal of the near end user to the far end user; a second microphone to pick up the speakerphone acoustic signal and to output an audio signal; and an audio signal processor to measure a time domain level of the audio signal to detect a proximity of the apparatus to an object, and wherein the audio signal processor is configured to compare the time domain level measurement to a threshold level to determine the proximity of the apparatus to the object.
A mobile device detects when it's near an object, like a user's ear, using its built-in microphones. It has a speaker that plays sound from the other person on the call. A first microphone picks up the user's voice to send back. A second microphone, located near the speaker, picks up the sound coming from the speaker. The device measures the loudness (time domain level) of the sound picked up by the second microphone. If that loudness is above a certain threshold, the device determines it's close to an object. This allows the device to know if it's being held up to the ear.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a touch sensitive display screen; and a proximity detector to measure proximity of the display screen to the object, separate from the proximity detection based on the audio signal, the proximity detector to enhance accuracy of a measure of final proximity based on the proximity detected by the audio signal processor.
The mobile device from the previous description also has a touch screen and a separate proximity sensor that detects how close something is to the screen. This second proximity sensor works independently from the microphone-based detection and improves the accuracy of determining when the device is near an object. The overall proximity measurement uses both the microphone data and the touch screen proximity sensor to determine a final proximity value.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the proximity detector is to determine whether the apparatus is situated in one of an at-ear position or an open position, and wherein the apparatus is to automatically disable call handling input through the touch sensitive display screen during a call in response to the apparatus being situated in the at-ear position.
The mobile device described earlier, with both microphone-based and touch screen proximity detection, determines if it is in an "at-ear" position or an "open" (not at-ear) position. When the device detects it's in the "at-ear" position during a call, it automatically disables the touch screen so that the user's ear doesn't accidentally press any buttons. This prevents unintended actions during a call.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is to automatically switch from a speaker mode to a handset mode during a telephone call based on the measure of the time domain level of the audio signal.
The mobile device described earlier uses the loudness measurement of the speaker sound picked up by the second microphone to automatically switch between speakerphone mode and handset mode during a phone call. If the measured loudness indicates the device is near an object (like an ear), it switches to handset mode. If the loudness is below the threshold, it stays in or switches to speakerphone mode.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the time domain level measurement corresponds to a sound pressure level of the audio signal.
In the mobile device described earlier, the loudness measurement of the speaker sound picked up by the second microphone is a sound pressure level measurement. The device uses this sound pressure level to determine the proximity of the device to an object, using a threshold.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the time domain level measurement corresponds to a power level of the audio signal and a decreasing power level of the audio signal indicates the object is closer.
In the mobile device described earlier, the loudness measurement of the speaker sound picked up by the second microphone corresponds to a power level of the audio signal. The power level decreases as the device gets closer to an object (like a user's ear), so a decreasing power level indicates closer proximity. The proximity detection logic uses this inverse relationship.
7. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the audio signal processor is configured to determine that the apparatus has moved from an open position to an at-ear position when the measure of final proximity indicates the apparatus is closer to the object than a threshold level.
The mobile device, described previously, uses the combined microphone and touch screen proximity data ("measure of final proximity") to decide if the device has moved from an "open" position to an "at-ear" position. If the "measure of final proximity" indicates that the device is closer to an object than a certain threshold, the device determines that it has moved to the "at-ear" position.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 23, 2012
July 16, 2013
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